What Happens In Arizona, Stays In Arizona
by maximumride8899
Summary: *no wings * Max Ride is moving. Again. But this time, it's to a suburban house in Tucson, Arizona. There, she realizes she now has to face an even bigger challenge than moving; highschool. And in the town of Tuscon, Max soon finds how different it really is. (Just another Max moves and goes to highschool.) It might be cliché, but it's way way better than the summary.
1. Chapter 1

**New story! I'm really sick of writing these openings, so just read and review. Enjoy!**

**Chapter 1**

I re-positioned my sunglasses (which had fallen down my nose) and shifted my body so that my feet were resting on the dashboard.

"Max, please don't put your feet on my dashboard." My mom said from the front seat. I turned away from my window to look at her.

"But we've been driving for _hours_; my legs are cramped." I said.

"At least you're not sitting in the back seat; I can't even_ feel_ my legs anymore!" Came a voice from the back seat. I groaned and turned around so that I was facing the backseat, where a very agitated Ella was pushing a box onto the floor.

"Oi! Hands off my box!" I scolded. Ella gave me a sour look and continued pushing the box onto the floor.

"If it's your box, then why isn't it up there with you? Hm?" Ella asked. I just rolled my eyes at her and turned back to the front.

"Because there's not enough room up here." I stated, putting my feet back up onto the dash.

"If there's enough room back here, I promise you there's enough room up there."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Ella; it's bad."

"You know what-"

"How about you both be quiet before I crash?!" My mom interrupted with an agitated voice. Ella shut up and sank down into her seat while I looked back out the window.

While I'm taking this glorious car ride (note the sarcasm), I might as well tell you about me and my situation.

My name's Max (short for Maximum) Ride; I'm 17, (18 in 3 months, yea me!) with shoulder-length dirty-blonde hair. I've got chocolate brown eyes and long eyelashes with tan pretty tan skin. (Or at least that's what I've been told) Right now I'm on my way to Arizona, where a brand-spanking-new life awaits me; my mom's job got transferred down there, which means that everyone has to move down there. Yay us.

I know very little about Arizona actually, except the fact that it's extremely hot and, despite this fact, it has some of the greenest grass. Like ever; it's insane. Plus the very fun fact that there's tons of pools, but that's just a bonus.

So, I'll be entering my senior year at some random school, knowing nobody but Ella. Just perfect; what a way to spend my senior year.

A green sign rose in front of my window, reading _Welcome To Tucson. _There was a little picture right below it, which after a second I realized was a faded drawing of Arizona state.

Well, looks like we've just entered our new lives.

As if on cue, my mom exclaimed "Look girls; we're here!" She pointed excitedly at the sign.

But where is here? Here just looks like a bunch of trees, a McDonalds, and a mall. Plus a few other stores scattered here and there, nothing like the busy city of New York, like I was used to. This place will never be home; my chest ached just thinking of home.

With a heavy heart, I watched the town transform into a neighborhood, and the neighborhood transform into a house; my new house.

It was pretty average, with dozens if windows over a white background. The yard was regular, with the grass still bright green from summer. There's neighbor on both sides, though it looks like nobody's home at the moment.

"Ok, now we're officially here." Mom said, pulling me out of my thoughts. I rolled my eyes and sat up in my seat. "Now, both of the bedrooms are the same, so there doesn't have to be any fighting over which room you want; I don't want another trip to the hospital." Mom said in all seriousness. I smiled at the memory of our last move (from Virginia to New York about 3 years ago) when me and Ella both fell down the stairs and ended up getting matching casts. Oh, the memories.

I stepped out of the car and onto my new, white driveway. It was surprisingly cold under my bare feet, (I was in that car way too long to be wearing shoes) making me shiver for a split second, despite the heat. I ran up the sidewalk and to the front door, a big, oak door, waiting for mom.

When she finally got there with Ella, she paused with the key in her hand. She took a deep breath, but I stopped her.

"Mom, please don't go all sentimental on us and just open the door. I really need to pee." She stopped and stared at me.

"Fine; with no special ceremony," She paused dramatically. "Here's the house." She quickly opened the door and stepped back as me and Ella ran forward.

"Ma-ax c'mon! You always get first pick!" Ella yelled as I raced up the nearest set of stairs.

"Well then be faster! It's not my fault you can't keep up!" I yelled back while laughing. As I reached the landing I looked back and forth. At the top was a white hallway with three bedrooms. One, which I believe to be the master bedroom (mom's) was about halfway down the middle. The two other bedrooms (ours) were at opposite ends of the hallway, one at the front of the house and one at the back. But which one to choose? Oh, the choices! I'll just take the one at the front.

I raced down the hallway, Ella at my heels. At the very last second, she tackles me.

"Don't you dare! I want the front!"

"No way El! I want it more!" I tried crawling towards the door, but Ella slowed me down so I only moved a few inches. I stretched my arm out towards the room, just as Ella did the same.

"Come on Max; you'll be moving out in a year anyways!" More reaching.

"So will you! We're the same age you know." Finally, a tan hand passed the invisible line that separated the hallway from the bedroom. My tan hand.

"Yes! Roomsies tappsies!" (Don't you dare laugh at our sayings) I exclaimed just as I pushed Ella away. We slowly stood up, me smiling arrogantly at her.

"God dam it! I never get the room I want!" She angrily stomped her foot, which actually made her look like an angry toddler.

"Ah ah ah El; you know what happens when you cuss." Suddenly, a loud voice rang from downstairs. "Ella! I better not have just heard you cuss!" Mom yelled. Ella's cheeks flushed crimson and she backed down the hallway,

"No mom! I said dang it!" I heard her yell.

I laughed and turned around, into my room. A huge window sat right across from me, giving a full view of the yard and road. My recently-moved bed sat against the back wall, above which was one of my paintings. (yea, I paint; don't act so surprised!) On the wall beside the bed stood a closet, which opened into what basically looked like a small room; racks plastered the walls, with shelves against the floor for shoes. (Yea, this place is going to be pretty empty; even Ella doesn't have that much clothes)

OK, back to the room. The walls are white, which means I'm going to have to eventually paint them. (not that I mind)

"Max, come help me unload the car!" Mom called from downstairs.

"Coming! Just give me a sec!" I ran out of my room, to , the bathroom, did, you know, bathroom stuff, and ran downstairs.

"Ok, I'm here; what do I need to bring in?" I asked as I walked outside and towards the car, where a tired Ella and mom stood with boxes in their hands.

"Everything." My mom said while tugging a box that said _plates _on the side. I immediately set to work on dragging in all of my boxes. A mere 45 minutes later I had pretty much all of my boxes hauled inside, and have yet to meet anyone; the neighborhood's been basically dead the whole afternoon.

I mean I haven't seen a single car in any of the driveways, or even the road. In fact, I haven't seen a single soul in the whole neighborhood.

"Mom, we do have neighbors, right?" Mom just looked at me weird.

"Of course we have neighbors; they're probably just on vacation. It's still summer you know." I rolled my eyes and carried the last box, one filled with some old paints, towards the door.

"You're sure we don't live in a ghost town?" I asked skeptically. Mom just sighed and walked inside.

"Max, trust me, people actually live here." I heard her laugh come form the hallway.

I just rolled my eyes and continued inside, the paints jostling around inside the box.

**Well? What did you think? I hope you guys liked it, so, review, favorite, or follow. Or you can just do all three! You know, whichever you want. I'll try and post more frequently than my other stories, so you won't need to worry about that. Just make sure to follow, so you'll know when I update!**

**Bye!**


	2. Chapter 2

**Hello people of fanfiction! Welcome back to my wonderful story. I've actually updated quickly, so you should be proud. It's also very long, and if you want me to continue making long chapters, then I need LOTS of reviews. Okay, read, love, review!**

**Chapter 2**

Ok, I'm officially going insane; we've been here for probably a week now, and I have yet to see a single neighbor. I mean what the heck? Did they realize they were getting a neighbor and just decide to ditch the neighborhood? It makes it looks like even more of a ghost town.

Well, anyways, I might as well tell you what's been going on. We've pretty much gotten everything unpacked, minus a few things here and there. (Mainly my things) Thankfully there's a pool in the backyard (told you there's tons of them) so we've pretty much been swimming (me) and tanning (Ella) all week.

Actually, I'm sitting in the pool as we speak. Well, actually, I'm kinda floating, not sitting, with my stomach facing the bottom. My elbows are resting on the pool edge, my hair piled on top of my head in a loose bun and my glasses covering my face. Ella's laying on one of the lawn chairs reading some magazine.

"Ella, if you keep tanning you're gonna start looking Cherokee." **(A/N Not being racist, just saying that cause she'd look really tan) **I said casually.

Ella just turned a page in her magazine and gave me a look. (as much a look as you can give while wearing huge sunglasses) "I only have one week to get a whole summer's worth of a tan." She said stubbornly. I considered her answer for a second.

"New York did suck at giving tans, didn't it?" I said, cracking a smile. Ella nodded in all seriousness.

"So you see my dilemma; a whole summer's worth of sun and nothing to show for it! God life's unfair." She pouted. I just laughed and launched away from the edge, towards the middle of the pool.

"The struggle's real." I muttered while floating. This time Ella laughed. I heard another page turn as I looked closed my eyes.

After a few more minutes of silence and page turning, I heard Ella stand up.

"I'm gonna go grab a coke; want something?"

"Yea, a Dr. Pepper'd be great." Her footsteps retreated, leaving me in silence again. God, I could get use to this life; lounging in the pool, the feeling of a cool pool (as opposed to the ice-temperature pools in New York) and drinking Dr. Pepper in said pool to top it all off.

Pretty soon I heard the sound of wheels scraping on the road, stopping somewhere in front of our house. Mom's probably home on her lunch break or something. Soon a car door slammed, and I heard the faint echo of footsteps on the road. Yep, it's mom.

After about 5 minutes of silence, I began to drum my fingers on the surface of the water. Where the heck was Ella? How long does it take someone to grab two sodas?

"ELLA!" I yelled. (cue my laziness) After a few seconds I heard the patio door open.

"Chill out! God you're lucky I'm even getting you a soda!" Her footsteps pattered across the patio and then across the sidewalk making their ways toward me.

"God you're needy." I opened my eyes to find Ella standing over me, a Dr. Pepper in one hand. She dropped it onto me, right on top off my stomach. I let out an oof as it landed, making me sink a little. The bottle then proceeded to roll off me and into the pool, sinking to the bottom.

"Ugh, Ella! Now I've got to swim to the bottom and get it!" I complained while pulling off my sunglasses. Ella placed a hand over her heart.

"Oh, poor you, you've got to swim a whopping 8 feet!" (yea, it's a deep pool) I glared at her, took a deep breath, and dove downwards.

I opened my eyes and looked down, instantly spotting the brown shape sitting on the bottom of the pool. I swam deeper, closer to the floor so that my fingertips brushed the edge of the bottle. No no no come on! I reached again and the bottle (Amazingly underwater) rolled down the hill. (You know, that little hill that all pools seem to have) I grunted, causing bubbles to rise to the surface of the water. My lungs started burning, but I kept swimming deeper until I was practically sitting on the bottom.

My lungs screamed for air, and I felt the cool water closing in against me. But, you know what they say; 2nd trips are for idiots. (That's not actually what they say, but I don't want to say what they actually say) Finally, just as everything started to get blurry (as blurry as things can get underwater) I grasped the bottle. Dozens of little bubbles rose around me as I screamed in triumph and shot off the ground. As my head broke the surface I grasped the side of the pool, coughing.

"Air! I need air!"

My chest heaved, and I took big gulps of air, trying to re-fill my lungs as much as possible. After a few seconds of blubbering like a fish and extreme coughing, I paused and realized that they still burned. Maybe I just need to drink something. At the same time I realized my hand was wrapped around something, and that something was a bottle.

Oh, duh!

I quickly unscrewed the cap of the Dr. Pepper and tilted my head back, bringing the bottle to my lips. I gulped it down, not caring about the little line of soda that was steadily making its way down my chin. Finally I was left with gulping air, the drink already gone. I slammed it down on the pavement and laid my head down.

It was then that I realized that I had an audience; Ella stood above me, right next to a tall guy with strawberry-blonde hair. Ella's face said _oh god she's doing it again; she's going to embarrass me in front of a possible friend_, the strawberry guy's face just looked at me like I was the weirdest person ever.

"Oh, um *cough* hi." I said. "I, um, didn't see you there." They continued to stare at me for a few seconds, before the guy spoke.

"Uh, are you ok?" He asked. I soother down my now-wet hair and pushed myself out of the pool.

"Oh, you saw that; yea I'm fine." I said while laughing a little to cover up my embarrassment.

"And who are you exactly?" I asked stiffly. Ella gave me a look.

"This is Iggy; he lives next door, and he just got back from vacation." Ella said. Iggy bowed at the sound of his name. My face broke into a grin and I punched a fist in the air.

"Yes! So we DON'T live in a ghost town!" I exclaimed. Iggy laughed, while Ella just kinda looked at him. Wait a minute; is that a stare I'm seeing? I caught her eye and raised my eye brows, nodding my head towards Iggy. Ella just blushed and gave me a hard look before turning back towards Iggy.

Well well well; my sister's crushing on our neighbor. That's some interesting blackmail for later.

"What made you think you live in a ghost town?" Iggy asked.

"Probably the fact that Ella and my mom are the only people I've seen since I moved here." I joked.

"Really? I've been on vacation, but Fang's been here all week; god that kid needs to get out more." I felt my eyebrows furrow together.

"Fang? Who's Fang?" I asked. Iggy's face suddenly broke into a mischevious grin and he started yanking me in the direction of the house beside ours.

"Fang's the guy who lives right here; you've got to meet him. Maybe he'll actually be social now that a girl lives next door." Iggy aturned his head and yelled back to Ella, who basically blushed at her name coming from his mouth. She ran and caught up with us just as we reached the house.

Iggy strode up to the porch, threw open the door, and marched in.

"Fa-ang! I know you're in here! Come out come out wherever you are!" Iggy said in a singsong voice. I laughed and followed him inside, where he was looking around the hallway. After a few seconds of silence he quickly turned around and pulled us into a football huddle.

"Ok, here's the plan; Fang's alone, and he's somewhere in this house. So, I say we split up and look for him. Agreed?" We nodded. "Ok; Ella and I will go upstairs, and Max, you can look down here." I blinked a few times at him, then realizing that Ella's shoulder was resting ever so slightly on his shoulder. What the hell? Did I just become a third wheel in a matter of minutes? What did they do while I was in the pool?

Before I could finish thinking, Ella and Iggy broke apart from me, quickly heading up the stairs.

Um, what am I doing? I don't know this guy, I don't know this house, and, well, that pretty much sums it up. Well, I guess I could start by looking for the kitchen; at least I'll be able to eat something.

I headed down the hallway, which led to a dining room, which, luckily, then led to the kitchen. My mouth dropped open the second I walked in; they had a black refrigerator and freezer, a HUGE window above a deep, black sink, and a granite (Granite!) island. Oh, the heaven of all kitchens.

I scampered over to the fridge, opened it, and peaked inside. I don't think "Fang" will mind if I have some of his food; if he's anything like Iggy he'll probably be happy I took (took, not stole) some food. Hmm. They don't really have much in here; basically some fruits, soda, yogurt, and some meat. Plus a few leftovers here and there.

Uggghhh now I have to get food from my own house. I straightened up and closed the fridge, just to see a big, black body standing behind the door. I gasped in surprise and sprung back and, thanks to my terrible balancing skills, I slipped on the tile (my feet are still wet from the pool) and fell backwards. My head eventually came into contact with something cold and hard, (presumably the island) My head made a sickening thumping sound before bouncing off, and sending me to the floor.

My bare back made a wet squishing noise as I hit the floor. I laid frozen on the floor, the whole room spinning in circles. Ooooooohhhhh god that hurt.

"Shit. Oh god; uggggghhhhh." I moaned from my place on the floor. I brought my hand up to my face, feeling for any blood. My head pulsed, and I could feel and hear the blood thumping through it.

"Oh dude what the hell?" I groaned. I couldn't see because of my hand, but I'm pretty sure this is Fang, and I'm pretty positive he's not happy he just found a strange girl in a bikini looking through his fridge.

There was silence for a few seconds, and then he spoke. "Who are you and how'd you get in here?" Came a gruff voice. Yep, he's definitely not happy.

"I'm Max; Iggy let me in, idiot." I mumbled. I heard him groan, and then I felt rough hands circle around my bare shoulders.

"Sorry; didn't mean to scare you." I heard a bit of amusement in his voice as I was quickly lifted to my feet. My eyes zeroed in on Fang for a second, who I realized was a tall, tan guy with shaggy black hair. I stared at him for a few seconds, but then the world started to tilt, and I stated falling again. Oh shit not again; I'll defiantly be bleeding this time.

"Whoa whoa; careful." At the last second the same strong hands grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back up, this time lingering and holding me up. Fang stared worriedly at me for a few seconds before hooking a (very muscular) arm underneath my legs and another behind the small of my back.

"Here." Fang lifted me upwards and then set me down again, this time on the island. Oh god, now I look like a little kid who got hurt.

"Better?" He asked. I nodded, realizing that the world was no longer spinning.

"Yea." I focused on him, and realized something; Fang's pretty cute. His shaggy hair fell in limps around his face, framing the tan skin. His eyes were like dark orbs, which was actually kinda pretty instead of scary. Wait, no, not entirely dark; I can just make out little gold specks inside them. As I was analyzing this, I realized that he was staring at my forehead, where my hand was laying against.

"Here, I'll get you some ice." He spun around, taking the (pretty great) view of his eyes away. He opened the freezer and I heard some sharp rustling. Soon he turned back around and handed me a little black bag (imagine the old fashioned ice bags in the movies)

"Thanks." I pressed the ice bag to my head. I involuntarily flinched at the sudden coldness, feeling goosebumps rising on my arms.

"For the record, you didn't scare me; I just slipped on the floor." I argued. Of course he scared me, but there's no way I'm going to let him know that.

Fang smirked at me. "Really; so that little squeak of surprise was voluntary?" He asked. I felt my cheeks grow red, but I tried to ignore it.

"Of course it was; and it wasn't a squeak. I just gasped because I realized I had a little stalker watching me go through a fridge." Fang's eyebrows rose.

"You're in my house, going through my fridge." He argued.

"Well I was dragged over here and abandoned, so I thought I might as well get some food." I said.

"Abandoned?"

"Yea, Iggy and my sister Ella went looking for you upstairs." Fang's eyes grew the tiniest faction of an inch, (so little I barely even noticed)

"What's wrong with Iggy looking for you?" Fang opened his mouth to say something, but a loud scampering sound coming from the hallway cut him off.

"FANG! I found you!" Suddenly Iggy burst into the kitchen (with Ella at his heels, of course) and proceeded to tackle Fang.

Fang let out an oof of surprise and fell back against the fridge.

"Fang, I told you to be social while I was gone! These poor girls have been here a whole week!" Iggy complained while still pinning Fang.

"Iggy, I'm not he neighborhood watch." Fang stifled, trying to pry Iggy off. He finally succeeded and lightly pushed Iggy away. Iggy just narrowed his eyes and stepped back.

"Well then." He said dramatically. "Anyways, this is Ma-" Iggy turned around to introduce me, and then spotted the ice bag on my head. He quickly spun around and gave Fang a look.

"Fang, please tell me you aren't trying to get rid of my potential friends." He said in all seriousness. I laughed and readjusted the bag.

"I'm not trying to kill her; I scared her and she fell." Fang said, glancing at my head. I narrowed my eyes at him.

"He startled me and I slipped." Fang turned to me and mouthed "sure".

"You don't need me to scare away people anyways; that's all you." Fang added. Iggy just narrowed his eye and gave him a sour look.

"ANYWAYS." Iggy half-turned and pointed at me. "This is Max, and" he pointed to Ella "Ella. They moved in LAST week. I took it upon myself to show her around the neighborhood and meet people."

Fang nodded at Ella, while I suddenly became aware of how cold it actually was in the kitchen; after all, I am only in a bikini (a small one at that) with an icepack pressed to my head.

"Uh, sorry to cut this short, but I need to get outside; I'm turning into a popsicle over here." I interrupted. Everyone's eyes flew over to me, Iggy and Fang's finally processing what I was wearing.

"Yea, ok, I'm gonna go lay down at my house." I slipped off the counter, wobbling a little and started walking.

"Wait!" Iggy yelled. (right in my ear, might I add) I flinched, a splitting headache making it's way around my head.

"What?!" I asked grouchily, still walking for the door.

"You can't go to sleep! What if you have a concussion?" Iggy asked dramatically.

"Iggy, don't make me give you a concussion; I'm just going to lay down." I growled, throwing open the front door.

"Harsh." I heard him whimper.

"Ella! You stayin or comin?" I yelled behind me. After a few seconds I heard her running across the grass behind me.

"Coming; I've gotta finish my tan." I rolled my eyes and continued for the pool. I picked up my sunglasses off the ground and laid down in one of the lawn chairs beside Ella.

"I'm surprised you left your little boyfriend." I muttered after a few seconds.

"He's not my boyfriend; I don't even know him!" She yelled. I could tell by her tone that she was blushing; big time.

"Oh shut up; I've been your sister for 17 years I think I know when you're crushing on someone." I muttered.

"Whatever. And what about Fang?" She asked,

"What are you talking about?" I muttered again.

"Sisters for 18 years, Max."

I groaned and turned over onto my side and closed my eyes.

"Whatever."

**Yay! I actually updated quick and wrote a long chapter! (Hopefully you appreciated it!) Well, review, favorite, follow! You know the drill.**


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